Asus got special deal on Eee PC CPUs

It's no secret that Asus is getting some sort of special pricing on the Eee PC CPUs and chipsets, but what isn't so widely known is that Intel put some tough restrictions in place for Asus.

If the information we heard is correct, then Asus isn't allowed to use the CPUs they buy for the Eee PC in any other types of devices, and our understanding is that they tried to sneak them into some other notebooks, which Intel didn't stand for.

It seems as though Intel wants to decide who they work with on what project, and if they're not happy, then they'll take their business elsewhere. Although in the case with Asus, it might have been dificult to find someone else to pull off something like the Eee PC.

This could well be why the Eee PC can retail for less than the VIA powered devices, which finally seem to have launched into the retail market at CES, but they're not as competitively priced as the Eee PC when you consider the hardware you get.